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La sculpteure Louise Bourgeois croise sur le corps d’Arch of Hysteria l’arc de cercle de la crise hystérique et l’abandon de l’extase, la tension douloureuse et la jouissance visuelle, la rigidité du bronze et la fluidité des reflets métalliques. Comment la forme et le matériau de l’œuvre permettent-ils de jouer sur l’identité féminine et masculine, sur le rapport à la tradition sculpturale, sur le geste cathartique de l’artiste?

Arrebatamiento The taut body in Arch of Hysteria, by sculptor Louise Bourgeois, expresses that moment in which the frenzy of hysterical angst fuses with ecstatic abandon, in which the pain of tension meets visual orgasm, in which inflexible bronze is belied by the liquid play of light across its metallic surface. How does the sculptor use shape and material to play on the notion of gender identity and with sculptural tradition? What does it reveal of the cathartic gesture of the artist as a sculptor?